-
I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do.
-
Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.
-
I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?
-
Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never
-
He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.
-
Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.
-
My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.
-
I could handle. I could buy what they needed, but not the cool stuff. Kids don’t miss what they don’t know.”
-
Not the Same
IT’S DIFFERENT written by: Devonne Brown published by SpillWords, January 19, 2023 @athesaurus1 The quiet is different this morning.Its timbre has a breadth, a substanceI hadn’t noticed before.The quiet when the boys slept was full of their dreamsThis emptiness is hard. It supersedes noisefrom the TVthat deafens the background silence.It shatters then evaporates like it Read more
-
Waning Xmas
This Week The end of Christmas, the end of the semester, parent conferences, the end of winter break. Parents signed up to be able to tell the teacher how cool their kids were. Endless talk about their kids. They didn’t care about behavior or academics. They wanted to tell us, their teachers, all about their Read more
-
Holiday Fruit Salad
Thanksgiving is about fruit salad. Forget the birds and big gourds, even the shellfish and breadcrumbs. It’s all about the fruit. When Dad was little, his dad would make this incredible fruit salad during the holidays. When you’re from Clay county WV, that fruit salad is a gourmet delight. Grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, Read more
-
Flu and Cold Season
Getting old has symptoms. Stuff I’d always made jokes about in people are really true. Losing hair, eyesight, and teeth aren’t funny things that happen, but do. I’ve always been a list maker and note taker. Memory loss may or may not occur, I don’t know. What I need to remember, I do. The power Read more
-
The Plan
“I’ve got a plan,” said Norris. He looked around the room until his eyes found the dog. It was a poodle, a big brown one. In the poodle world it had several names: German Water Retriever, Standard Poodle, Brown Abstract Poodle, Spoo, Soup Hound, West Virginia Brown Dog, Opal Pearl. Madam, the saddle back, black Read more
-
The Code
I began drafting the next “Code” last night. Of all the Christmas traditions floating around, my favorite is the Christmas code. My boys tolerate it, everyone else finds it mildly entertaining, and it brings a huge grin to my face every Christmas celebration. I don’t put name tags on packages, I have a secret code Read more
-
I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do.
-
Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.
-
I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?
-
Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never
-
He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.
-
Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.
-
My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.
-
I could handle. I could buy what they needed, but not the cool stuff. Kids don’t miss what they don’t know.”
-
The Accident
The first job Lucy had was in Brunetti’s Family Restaurant waiting tables, fast paced and busy. You had to be light on your feet and quick in your head to keep up with the baked steak and chicken and dumplin’s coming out of the kitchen. Who got iced tea with lemon and who didn’t mattered…
-
Remote Learning
With rigid rigor, the school board called a two hour delay for students in ice and snow before any roads had even been treated after an all night snow storm. Employees were to report on time. In an abrupt change of plans, half an hour before school was supposed to begin, a remote day was…
-
Hand me downs
“Let’s go to Goodwill,” said Ian. “I need to get Mom a birthday present.” He knew there was nothing I wanted more than an antique butter dish with a lid, and the best place to find it was at a thrift shop. Goodwill came to his mind first. Thrift shops carried specialty items. Like the…
-
Vocabulary Promise
The truth is a burning promise I have to live up to or lie about. Truth comes in lots of flavors. It’s easier to lie and ignore what’s in front of me sometimes. Knowing what I have to do to live up to the standards of school, or home, or law. I’d rather live one…
-
Two Hour Delay Day
At least we don’t have hurricanes.
Devonne Brown 